"A brand’s site is the face of a company; the go-to place where potential customers and investors go to learn more about the brand, the team, and the service or product you are offering. Getting venture capital funding for your startup can be a roller coaster ride. The last thing you need to be worried about is whether your site is making your company look small and unimpressive. Before you take your pitch before investors, make sure that you’ve considered these key elements of your site to ensure you are setting up your company for success." by Uptrending

1. T H E 7 K E Y E L E M E N T S Y O U R S I T E N E E D S T O H E L P Y O U G E T V C F U N D I N G
The 7 Key
Elements Your
Site Needs to
Help You Get
VC Funding
G U I D E L I N E S
Updated July 2016
info@uptrending.com | www.uptrending.com

2. T H E 7 K E Y E L E M E N T S Y O U R S I T E N E E D S T O H E L P Y O U G E T V C F U N D I N G
VALUE PROPOSITION
SOCIAL PROOF
IMPRESSIVE DESIGN
CAPTURING LEADS
YOUR TEAM
CONTACT METHODS
INTERACTIVE CONTENT & MEDIA
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02.
03.
04.
05.
06.
07.
Table of Contents

3. T H E 7 K E Y E L E M E N T S Y O U R S I T E N E E D S T O H E L P Y O U G E T V C F U N D I N G
Let’s Get Started
A brand’s site is the face of a company; the go-to place where potential customers
and investors go to learn more about the brand, the team, and the service or
product you are offering. Getting venture capital funding for your startup can be
a roller coaster ride. The last thing you need to be worried about is whether your
site is making your company look small and unimpressive.
Before you take your pitch before investors, make sure that you’ve considered
these key elements of your site to ensure you are setting up your company for
success.
“I’ll be the first to admit that
not only does my first visit to a
company’s website play a role in
my assessment of it — in fact, it
can have a major impact.”
MATT BIEHLER
ANALYST AT OPENVIEW PARTNERS

4. T H E 7 K E Y E L E M E N T S Y O U R S I T E N E E D S T O H E L P Y O U G E T V C F U N D I N G
Value Proposition
Investors want to know why they should give you money, with real business
backing. In other words, what do you bring to the market that makes you unique
and different? It’s one of the most important parts of your pitch.
Don’t make them dig through your site to find it.
Your value proposition should be on the homepage in high prominence, plainly.
Think 1-2 sentences, ideally without having to scroll at all. You can spell it out with
more detail in your About section, but make sure it’s found within 5 seconds of
hitting your site.
Essentially, this is your elevator pitch condensed down and clearly presented in
an ideal placement.
01
CHARTBOOST

5. T H E 7 K E Y E L E M E N T S Y O U R S I T E N E E D S T O H E L P Y O U G E T V C F U N D I N G
Social Proof
Your site needs to show potential investors that you’re already achieving market
traction.
There are several ways you can do this:
These factors all help allay investor fears that you’ve got a great idea, but lack the
ability to make it really work in the marketplace. Social proof makes them say,
“Well, if they work with Company X, they must doing something right.”
• Logos on your site of prominent & recognizable customers
• Highlight industry-leading partnerships with top companies
• Case studies that showcase product or service success in action
• Reference press coverage by notable media outlets
• Statistics of revenue, market share or user base displayed
prominently
02
KONTIKI

6. T H E 7 K E Y E L E M E N T S Y O U R S I T E N E E D S T O H E L P Y O U G E T V C F U N D I N G
Impressive Design
To impress potential investors, you want a site that feels modern & impressive. So
what does that look like?
Font Choice
First, choose a set of fonts for your site that have a purpose. In other words, your
font should reflect the personality of your company. Is your brand fun, lively,
energetic? Perhaps futuristic, modern, sleek? Perhaps you need something that
is bespoke, hipster, nerdy-chic? Don’t just use an off-the-shelf font, be intentional
and select a font that reflects your brand.
03
UPTRENDING

7. T H E 7 K E Y E L E M E N T S Y O U R S I T E N E E D S T O H E L P Y O U G E T V C F U N D I N G
Cater to Short Attention Spans
Second, cater your designs and content to users who scan. Attention spans have
never been shorter, and the best companies have responded by altering their
online presentation.
The top websites have some things in common:
• Short, simple sentences that are easy to read
• Use of images, icons and videos for explanation of concepts
• Use of headlines and subheads to allow for faster scanning
• Bulleted and numbered lists to break up chunks of text
• Custom graphics and real life images (no stock photos)
• Icons and thumbnails to represent themes or categories
• Custom animation or infographics to engage the audience
03
SUMO LOGIC

8. T H E 7 K E Y E L E M E N T S Y O U R S I T E N E E D S T O H E L P Y O U G E T V C F U N D I N G
Capturing Leads
Cutting-edgecompaniesknowhowtomaketheirsitesmagnetsfornewcustomers.
Your startup can show investors that you think like an established brand by using
a variety of modern lead-capture systems.
These systems include:
• Subscription to ongoing content like blog posts or a newsletter in
the header or footer
• Lightboxes with sign-up forms triggered by user actions
(showing exit intent, scrolling to a certain point on a page)
• Gated content such as whitepapers, videos or reports locked
behind a signup form
• Embedded CTAs in website content, such as service/product
pages or after blog posts
Having these types of features on your site signals
to venture capitalists that you understand the
power of growing your customer base, and are
actively pursuing that in the most up-to-date way.
04
SUMO LOGIC

9. T H E 7 K E Y E L E M E N T S Y O U R S I T E N E E D S T O H E L P Y O U G E T V C F U N D I N G
Giving lip-service to “our stellar team of experienced professionals” is a bit like
saying you have “great customer service” - it just isn’t compelling. Instead, make
showcasing your team a priority on your website.
If you can, have a page featuring all of your staff with information about their
experience, backgrounds and expertise. Provide links to LinkedIn profiles or any
other appropriate professional social listings for each individual.
If that’s not possible, or most of your team members are new, then focus on
your executives. Give detailed bios, name-drop big time former employers and
their accomplishments. Knowing that your company has an top-tier team with
expertise in the industry, and the knowledge to grow the brand, gives investors
much needed confidence in your growth potential.
Your Team
Unlike some customers, investors care deeply about who is on-staff at your startup.
You need a way to show them that you’ve hired the best and brightest, with years
of experience that will make your company successful and worth investing in.
05
METRIC INSIGHTS

10. T H E 7 K E Y E L E M E N T S Y O U R S I T E N E E D S T O H E L P Y O U G E T V C F U N D I N G
Contact Methods
It’s not enough to have a Contact page with an address, phone number and
generic email address.
These systems include:
• Have contact info readily accessible in the navigation, rather than
buried on an internal page in your About section
• Use unique forms for each type of interaction - your Careers page
form shouldn’t look anything like your Support form
• Utilize live chat functionality for real-time responsiveness to
customers and prospects
• Make company social media channels available and easy-to-find
(unless you’re going to ignore them, in which case don’t waste
anyone’s time by putting them in your header)
Venture capitalists spend their
days looking to the future, which
means you need to present a site
that lives in next year. Case in
point: how do customers, peers,
media reps contact you?
06
METRIC INSIGHTS

11. T H E 7 K E Y E L E M E N T S Y O U R S I T E N E E D S T O H E L P Y O U G E T V C F U N D I N G
Interactive Content & Media
You may think that great photos and
clever words are enough to sell your
brand, but investors hear hundreds upon
thousands of pitches - you need to stand
out.
One way to improve your standing in a
VCs eyes is to flex your media muscles.
Notonlywillitbemorevisuallyinteresting,
which increases engagement, it also
shows your brand is current and knows
the power of appealing to different
personalities.
These systems include:
Once you’ve settled on a medium, don’t settle for status quo. Your video could
be an interview, a product demo, a custom animated sales pitch, a conference
presentation or any other relevant content.
• Videos
• Whitepapers
• Interactive content
(calculators, quizzes)
• Infographics
• Live social feeds
• Webinars
07
KOLLECTIVE

12. T H E 7 K E Y E L E M E N T S Y O U R S I T E N E E D S T O H E L P Y O U G E T V C F U N D I N G
By following and implementing these 7
key elements to your site, you’ll be on the
path to success to build your digital brand,
impress investors and get the funding you
need to grow your business.
Bottomline

13. T H E 7 K E Y E L E M E N T S Y O U R S I T E N E E D S T O H E L P Y O U G E T V C F U N D I N G
Let’s Work
Together
Contact us for more information at info@uptrending.com
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